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Old November 1st, 2005, 12:41 PM   #14
spcglider
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I don't want to sound like a super nit-picker, but there are so many internal logic flaws in this particular script that its hard to know where to start. I love Galactica, I really do, but this episode is by far my least favorite simply because of the tremendous goofs they make in even the most basic of story points.

If we accept the idea that there is a fire buring on board the Galactica, we must also accept that it has something to burn. The hallways of the Galactica are pretty much empty metal tubes. No carpet, no drapes, no wood (unless you count the wooden frame around the door of the Rejuv center that's supposed to be painted to look like metal), no paper, etc. Is the fire simply buring atmosphere?

At some point, somebody says, "we have to seal off all the compartments to keep the fire from spreading". This is the extreme peril that Boomer and such are subjected to... the possibility of running out of air in their sealed compartment. Whoops... except that we see later that every compartment is connected by an unimpeded galvanized steel ductwork big enough for a person to crawl through (or big enough for a mechanical DAGGIT to drag a man through). Looks like sealing off the compartments isn't very helpful after all when there's open ductwork leading from room to room.

Apollo suggests that they send people to all the empty compartments to head Muffit off in the right direction should he stray. Tigh says that they have no extra people to do the task. Except that there are 220 ships full of people just sitting out there waiting for the Galactica to explode. The scriptwriters forgot about the teeming humanity of the fleet.

Wow... Colonial Warriors are super smart. Apollo, a rocket jock, knows more about firefighting machinery and technology than the head firefighter on board the Galactica. "I didn't think of the mega pressure pumps!" I say fire that guy immediately... he doesn't know his own job. In fact, Apollo is so keenly in tune with he firefighting gear on board the ship that he knows they can fit pressure pumps into the same space as the laser generators on board a Viper! Mr. Spock, move over!!! There's a new brain in town!

Why do they need to strafe when delivering the boraton from the vipers? Its a space craft. If they can't stroll up behind the battlestar and simply match velocity (park in orbit so to speak), aim carefully and blow their wad of boraton into the landing bay, then the colonials aren't very familiar with working in space.

Colonial warriors must be trained in just about everything...except emergency response. When one of the fallen warriors in the Rejuv center (after a big explosion) is unresponsive and lying on the floor, Bomer grabs him by the back of the neck, lifts him up and shakes him! I don't know if you've ever taken an emergecy response course, but that is the first thing you DO NOT DO when someone is unresponsive!

Oh, but wait... colonial warriors know everything there is to know about demolitions though. That's why its okay to send your two top fighter pilots outside the ship with no tether lines armed with enough explosives to knock a battlestar off-course. Does the colonial military post NO demolition experts on board what are obviously the largest military vessels in their arsenal? Evidently not, considering they had to pull convicts off the prison barge in "Ice Planet Zero" to get an explosives job done.

But even more peculiar: a battlestar has more stuff sticking out from it's hull than a sea urchin. You can't fix all those pipes and greeblies after a battle from the interior. There MUST be some fashion of EVA equipment to affect repairs... and an entire crew to go along with it. Why weren't they tapped for the demolition job? They'd be the ones who would know how to do it. And if one of them slipped away, the fleet wouldn't be losing one of the VERY VALUABLE fighter pilots.

But why demolition to start with? Once again, they have colonial vipers armed with really powerful laser cannons. Why use explosives to put a hole in the hull in an uncontrolled boom, when you could potentially carve a hole in the hull using the lasers? Like before, park in orbit above the battlestar, take very careful aim, and poke a hole just big enough to do the job.

And what's all this about the Galactica having two energizers? A ship that big with so many critical systems that rely on energizer power and they route it all through two large energizers? And what about "The Magnificent Warriors" where Tigh says there are energizers ALL OVER the battlestar? Is there a difference between an energizer and an energizer? What is the difference? If there is a difference, why didn't they spell it out for the audience like they did every other plot point?

But logic isn't very exciting, is it?

This concept could have been VERY exciting if it had been handled by somebody who had even the merest inkling of science. Using the fire as the predominent peril is okay, but there are so many other problems that could have arisen FROM the fire that would have increased the tension tenfold and really made this an exceptional episode.

Someone here said that it should have been a two-parter. I agree absolutely. And the effects should have been apparent in several episodes down the line as well. Repairs to the Galactica shuld have been ongoing. There should have been a severe strain put on resources to get the old girl back in shape. But everything had to be cleaned up for next week's episode.

Just my two cubits.

-Gordon
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